http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/7172/kt5.png
Artistic conception of the HT-135H.
HT-135H "King Bear" Heavy Assault Tank
Overview
The Königsbären ("King Bear"), previously designated as Slowking, but renamed because it was too silly, and even previously designated as the Cáscara 3A1 "Fortress Buster", but renamed for having an entirely different chassis from its predecessor, is the next evolution in the Line of Confederacy's heavy tanks. Packing the new MTIS-M135H Heavy 135mm Hypervelocity Gun, capable of firing penetrators at speeds up to 2,100 meters per second and compatible with a wide range of gun-launched guided missiles, integrated light mortar/grenade launchers, a wide coverage gast 40mm autocannon secondary turret, its firepower is greater than that of any other tank developed by the Confederacy, and despite lacking in speed and agility compared to lighter tanks of the Confederacy, it has a very high terrain accessibility for a vehicle of its size, and wide coverage of all angles, including the z axis where most tanks tended to be at complete disadvantage against infantry in rooftops.
Its primary strategic purpose is to spearhead major breakthrough assaults, intended to be one of many operational instruments to allow a viable straight strategic advance through heavily fortified areas in strategic situations where seeking to outflank it would bring more disadvantages of its own and allow the enemy a significant advantage for organizing a counter-offensive, as the Königsbären serves as the "Mobile Anvil" to push forward hostile forces from good defensive positions while faster and more mobile tanks, together with air cavalry, mechanized airborne operations and air support split them and form the "Hammers" to come from all directions, vertical envelopment included whenever deemed necessary.
To ensure its defensiveness, radical changes happened in the way it is armored compared to its predecessors to ensure it'd have a least slightly lower and at best the same defensive capabilities with less armor mass and specially volume, which would be heavily required for allowing saved mass and volume to be spent in its new weaponry and superior AA and APS capabilities. Titanium has been replaced by Steel for strategic reasons, while the NBC armor of previous versions has been removed and replaced by less volume and mass-intensive solutions as the now more visible and clear geopolitical situation of the Confederacy proved it unnecessary, reducing the volume occupied by armor and the tank's overall profile. The previously highly cared worry to make a length to width ratio that would ensure optimal mobility has been dismissed in face of the practical necessities of this specialized vehicle, reducing the surface area that had to be armored, among other measures. Meanwhile, the Königsbären is equipped with an additional guided active protection system in the form of a short range, miniaturized version of the rolling airframe missile, quad-packed at small vertical launch cells, besides the usual soft and hard-kill APSes expected to exist in any modern tank, and its integrated Active Protection System is the most advanced APS ever developed in the Confederacy.
Also, like all newest tanks of the Confederacy, the Königsbären gives to its commander access to a standardized Unmanned Vehicle control interface, which packs software components to interact with both unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, while its most strategically significant elements are the reduction of crew necessity and its easier maintenance compared to the Cáscara line of tanks.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Tienda del Coche, Engesa, Milnet Tucker Institute et al.
Class: Heavy Assault Tank
Launched: 2041
Dimensions: 4.2m (width) x 10.2m (length) x 3.35m (height)
Ground Clearance: Variable, normal is 0.60m
Weight: 90,000 kg
Weight of Turret: 38,000 kg
Weight of Transmission: 6,000kg
Weight of Tracks: est. 4,000 kg each
Motor: EH-080T 2100 turbocharger water-cooled gas turbine. 2,100 hp at 3,500 rpm. Displacement: 55L
Kilograms per horsepower ratio: 42.86
Velocity (on-road): 65km/h
Velocity (off-road): 40km/h
Transmission: MTI 275 automatic wide-ratio transmission, 6 forward and 3 reverse gears
Suspension: Active hydropneumatic suspension
Armament:
- MTIS-M135H 135mm Hypervelocity ETC cannon w/ Voytek High-speed autoloader, caliber 50
- ZM-300 30mm Portable Autocannon coaxial w/ main gun
- MTI M40L 40mm ETI Gast gun, caliber 70, above main gun turret.
- 6 180x550mm vertical launch cells.
- 4 MOI-19X Dual-purpose 60mm mortar/grenade launchers in turret corners
135mm Ammunition (ETC):
- MTI.135APN: Armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot, 11.2kg penetrator.
- MTI.135HE4: High explosive anti-tank, indirect fire optimized, quad tandem charge.
- MTI.135CA: Canister shot, for use against buildings and entrenched infantry
- Durruti Z3 Gun-launched Portable ADATS
- Ardor Z3 Gun-launched thermobaric missile
Ammunition Capability
- 40 135mm tank gun rounds
- 1,600 30mm autocannon rounds
- 1,200 40mm telescoped autocannon rounds
- 16 60x160mm Compact Mortar rounds
- 32 60x90mm Heavy Grenades
- Quad-packed RAM-72 56x500mm Miniature Rolling Airframe Missiles per cell (Max: 24) OR
- 1 AGM-114 Hellfire II per cell (Max:6)
Maximum angles of fire(135mm): 360 degrees traverse, 65 degrees up, 3 degrees down. While moving, only 40 degrees up
Max. angle of fire(40mm ROWS): full turret-independent traverse, up to 70 degrees up
Rate of Fire(135mm): 18 rpm
Armor:
Conventional:
- Frontal arc: 120mm Multi-layered Steel/Ceramics Matrix Composite vs. MTI 40mm/L80 ETI autocannon w/ APFSDS ammo.
- All around: 60mm ML Steel/Ceramics Matrix Composite
- Weight: 26,000kg
Reactive armor: V Intelligent Reactive Armor
- Turret front: Explosive reactive armor improving the armor to roughly 2,000 mm RHAe against kinetic energy and 2,280mm RHAe against chemical energy at 15º oblique shot.
- Hull Glacis: Explosive reactive armor improving the armor to roughly 2,400mm RHAe LoS against KE and 2,750mm RHAe against CE.
- Lower Frontal Hull: Explosive reactive armor improving the armor to roughly 1,600mm RHAe against KE and 1,820mm RHAe against CE
- All-around hull and turret rear: Explosive reactive armor (ERA) improving armor to roughly 800mm RHAe against KE and 1,400mm against CE.
- Turret sides: Explosive reactive armor improving the armor to roughly 1,200mm RHAe against KE and 1,500mm RHAe againt CE.
- Roof: ERA boxes capable of stopping a kinetic energy 60mm high velocity fin stabilized piercing shot or a chemical energy fin stabilized shaped charge bomb fired from a 60mm Brandt gun mortar. Est. 600mm RHAe against KE and 750mm RHAe against CE
- Weight: 24,000kg
Stealth Features:
- Low Probability of Intercept Datalink
Active Protection System: Icarus soft-kill and RML-78 FCS hard kill systems w/ FSoft INDFire Upgrade
NBC Defense: Air conditioning system with primary air filter and two backup overpressure systems, fully enclosed, plus armor.
Fire Control System: MTI Standard FCS w/ FSoft INDFire and AirDefense Upgrades
Sensor Equipment:
- 6 independent FSoft Intelliview tactical computerized displays collecting and filtering data from cameras, passive radar and Datalink.
- Milnet LPI Datalink
- Ballistic fire control system with trajectory and effectiveness calculator.
- Override emergencial main sight and targetting periscope.
- 7 driving cameras at front, sides, rear, coaxial w/ turret, ROWS and rear ROWS
- OJO-2A1 AFV A/PESA Radar. Targeting Range: 25 km
- RML-78 Rolling Airframe Missile Tracking and Targeting System.
- BUHO-1D Automatic Target Classification System. Range: 12 km
- FSoft INDFire Anti Top-attack Ammunitions APS upgrade
- FSoft AirDefense AA ROWS and RML-78 fire control modules.
- Milnet Standard Unmanned Vehicle Control Interface
- 4 artillery early warning infrared cameras.
Crew: 1 pilot, 1 gunner, 1 commander
Price: 45 million*
*Large scale purchase orders may receive a small discount.
Design Background
During the late half of the previous century, the concept of heavy tanks have been all but abandoned as technological evolution allowed for medium tanks to eventually become as effective as their heavier counterparts, giving birth to the concept of the Main Battle Tank. Eventually, the evolution of armor technology and the development of reactive armor led for the average main battle tank weight to match that of the older heavy tanks. However, as a concept, heavy tanks ceased to exist for some time.
The Confederacy of Third Spanish States has originally taken a radical approach regarding the establishment of their armored force, matching their unconventional approach to warfare, as the Sino "Light" Stealth Tank and the Cáscara "Land Fortress" "Heavy" Assault Tank were developed as specialist tanks, splitting among themselves the roles that most modern armies have streamlined into a single, main battle tank, with the Sino being a rapid offensive tank optimized for skirmish and hit and run strikes and the Cáscara a mostly defensive tank, despite the shortcomings of the latter regarding balance issues provoked by the extremely limited armor beyond the frontal arc and the L60 120mm gun instability,, which were already being addressed by the projects for a new model, the Cáscara 2A1. As back then, the Confederacy considered a defensive tank strategy focused at defending their own territories rather than at projection of power and at emphasizing their air force above all other elements, such two classes of tanks were deemed sufficient.
As foreign policies, according to cultural perspective shifts, became more interventionist, specially due to the constant threat of the People's Republic of Spain, the fact the Cáscara was excessively heavy and its hull shape impractical for amphibious modifications while the Sino Stealth Tank couldn't put up a straight engagement, led to the development of the Sino 2 line of Main Battle Tanks, developed from the beginning considering compatibility with modular amphibious modifications which were co-developed with the Sino 2, which also inherited in part the signature-reducing features of the Sino Stealth Tank. However, the logistics burden of having three different chassis for armors began to show during the Anarcho-Stalinist War. As th MilNet is a Private Defense Agency, even if an ideologically loaded one, inefficient and redundant designs would have to be scrapped, meaning that either the Sino Stealth Tank and Cáscara would be scrapped, or that the Sino 2 line of MBTs would be phased out or serve for the development of an specialized line of amphibious tanks for the Marines, deployed in a more limited fashion than the others.
After Spain was reunified, with the defeat of the People's Republic of Spain, amphibious capability no longer remained a critical capability for a strategically-able tank of the Confederacy as their territory no longer encompassed only an island, and in many ways, even a heavy tank could be engineered to have limited amphibious capabilities. Thus, the far more mountainous terrain of mainland Spain disfavored the Sino 2A1, while tending to give far greater tactical uses for a lighter tank like the Sino Stealth Tank. And thus, the apparently "most insane" choice was taken: the Sino 2 series have been discontinued in their development, although they would be used for a future amphibious tank project for the Marines.
However, another strategic concern of urgency was how biofuels were ruining the soil of the Confederacy, having almost turned the home islands into a combination of scrubland and infertile forest soil, while algae farming was provoking a severe ecological disaster. The development of synthetic fuels, which energy needs to be built were provided by the excess heat of the many nuclear powerplants of the Confederacy, led to the project to upgrade all existing armored vehicles so their less-than-optimal biodiesel engines due to the impure nature of biodiesel could be replaced with gas turbines or better, standard diesel engines.
With these considerations in mind, coupled with the relative inefficiency of the turret mounted 30mm Portable Autocannons against helicopters and modernized Light Armored Vehicles, the Königsbären was developed to replace the Cáscara 2A1 as the next Heavy Tank of the Confederacy, and inherit a smaller part of the strategic capabilities of the Sino 2 series, which would mostly be taken by the next development in the Sino Stealth Tank series.
Armament
The Königsbären may be a bit of an overkill in its armament, but unlike this, it was a realistic and pratical concept from grounds up, rather than another napkin project in the MilNet.
The King Bear carries the evolution of the first "Nakíl killer" of the Confederacy, a Caliber 50 135mm tank gun, that is like its predecessor a 140mm gun chambered for a 135mm caliber to allow it to have a thicker, more resilient barrel that is among one of the elements developed to allow for the gun system to withstand of the stress from the firing of heavy penetrators at exceedingly high muzzle velocities. The objective of its main gun is to be able to at least be capable of severely damaging any tanks besides strategically useless super-heavy tanks with one shot. This new gun also packs a greater compatibility with newly developed gun-launched missiles, intended to replace part of the role of the vulnerable rear missile barrel used by the Cáscara Heavy Tanks, and to extend mission profile.
Unlike its predecessor, it's slightly more compact, and its barrel is positioned a few dozens of centimeters further inside the turret to improve its balance, and carries a muzzle brake to allow it to fire at a somewhat higher maximum muzzle velocity and relieving the structural stress of its predecessor, while still packing the variable muzzle system that allows for the muzzle velocity to be configured by the tank crew for both direct and indirect fire needs by changing the amount of liquid propellant charge before each shot, allowing the same to be almost as effective in long range indirect fire as in is in direct fire. The turret design and internal layout were also optimized to reduce further volume and surface area necessary to armor it. Among the measures, the liquid propellant conduit used by the autoloader and gun system was built as a flexible but highly resilient "hose" with several twists and turns to allow it to occupy less volume than a straight duct with the minimal necessary length to generate needed pressure from the gun system to the two liquid propellant storages at the turret sides, which now matches almost perfectly the overall shape of the turret. Unlike in many tanks, thus, many components of its main weapon system were built considering how to fit them in a volume-efficient turret design, rather than a turret design developed to fit over them, although such approach had its limits, when going to its fullest would hamper certain performance necessities.
The MTIS-135AL Mk. 2 Autoloader, also known as the Voytek Autoloader, benefiting from the volume savings of the highly compact liquid propellant storage, packs two interlinked carousel rings, that unlike the two carousel rings used by the AMOS, instead are connected to a single barrel and placed in a parallel layout below the turret, one above the other, allowing for both lower and upper rounds to be carried simultaneously through the resilient, semi-flexible feeding duct directly connected to the breech, that was developed to replace robotic arms. Built with similar principles to those of the vectored thrust nozzles, such "duct" is able to bend its own shape along the available volume , allowing for a projectile to be carefully turned from vertical to horizontal inside it, and using directed electromagnetic force to "suck" rounds inside it towards the breech, giving a significant enough boost in the rate of fire of its gun, and allowing for it to have practical "rapid" fire capabilities, even though such are significantly limited when compared to the rate of fire capabilities of the future Sino Stealth Tank developments and of their burst-fire lightweight 120mm tank gun.
Like in its predecessor, the 30mm Portable Autocannon / Automatic Grenade Launcher remains as the primary coaxial weapon of the King Bear. It has proven itself far capable in the field, and able to significantly destroy all but the strongest light armored vehicles, and like in the Sino 2A1, it is mostly recessed inside the turret, and partly hidden, with ammunition fed from a large, single box ammunition storage with linkless belt rounds for the benefit volume saving.
Most of the gun system volume is occupied by its complex set of actuators that provide to the turret its high 40 degrees elevation capability without the use of the hydropneumatic suspension, and that provide an faster than average turning speed for a turret of such weight.
Further behind the turret, a dual box ammo feeding system is located for the new secondary turret, inherited from the M135 MacGavin Multimission Effects Vehicle. The former 30mm portable autocannons / automatic grenade launchers, although effective against infantry and many light armored vehicles, showed themselves as only partially effective against helicopters during the battles of the Anarcho-Stalinist war. To rectify such vulnerability and reduce its dependence upon specialist vehicles that would be more vulnerable to tank gun and to the immediate presence of air coverage, The MTIS L60 40mm gast gun has been used instead. The volume needs forced for a taller, longer turret, with enough internal volume among the two interconnected turret systems to allow for the elevation of the secondary turret's barrel. Using a low profile design, the secondary turret is able of engaging close air support and light armored vehicles with high efficiency, while the capability for being fitted with a gamma of different anti-personell 40mm rounds gives to the King Bear a far better capability in its assault role than that of the previous tank.
In the rear hull's roof, behind the crew compartment and before the engine block, a set of six vertical launch cells is placed in a 3x2 horizontal layout, controlled by automated active protection systems. Each cell is usually armed with quad-packed compact rolling airframe missiles in a configuration similar to that of the quad-packing of the ESSM Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles, that provide a wider arc of protection than unguided hard-kill APS, specially against guided and indirect fire threats, or, less oftenly, by a single AGM-114 Hellfire missile or equivalent, and is far more safe and less vulnerable than the former, partially exposed rear hull barrel used for missile launch, at the expense of having its flexibility drastically reduced as it lacks the carry capability for longer ranged missiles, a sacrifice made to maximize its role as a heavy tank, by improving further its survivability.
Also, unlike the former heavy tanks of the Confederacy, that carried only grenade launchers, the King Bear comes with four 60mm dual-purpose launchers occupying the volume inside each of the four corners of the turret roof, using revolver chambers for ammunition that can be loaded with either two vertically stacked grenades or with a single mortar round compatible with the MOI-19 Light Mortar, although more compact.
Crew compartment and protection
The greatest benefit from the reduction of crew in the King Bear was the fact the crew area became thus smaller, and significantly better protected than in the previous Heavy Tanks of the Confederacy, as the density of armor surrounding it nearly doubled. Such significant improvements were achieved by using an unconventional single line of three seats, made practical by the implementation of its new interface technologies, rather than the previous tandem seat layout with two rows of two seats each.
Instead of conventional means of viewing, the crew of the King Bear will, under most circumstances, resort to the specifically tailored 50'' Intelliview displays that are placed in a foldable lightweight carbon-fiber reinforced polymer frame and bolted to the roof, and able to provide significant visual aids to targeting and navigation. Each display can switch between front, sides, rear, simulated top-down, coaxial with main gun, coaxial with secondary turret and unmanned vehicle views, based upon the feed of six strategically positioned cameras, which is complemented by four top-attack ammunition early warning cameras. The layout can be configured to allow for several views to appear in the same display, according to the needs of each crew member. Usually, the driver will choose the front and rear views, the gunner will choose the main gun view and the commander will choose the secondary turret view combined with a simulated top down view created by the combination of radar, datalink and visual feedback from its systems and sometimes also the unmanned vehicle view, when controlling unmanned aerial or ground vehicles from the King Bear.
As a backup, should the cameras be knocked off, the Sino 2A1 also contains two targeting periscopes attached to the main and secondary turrets and a "main sight", which is nothing but an additional wide-angle optical device located at a heavily protected position of the tank glacis to allow its driving without necessarily putting the commander in such a risky position of being outside immediately after the incident, and a reduced need of such action will increase the survival chances of the commander, and of the crew as a whole.
Differently from previous tanks, the Königsbären NBC protection, as a measure to optimize volume and reduce mass, is directly linked to the crew compartment, not relying in the additional layers of aluminum and steel that the armor surrounding crew compartment of the older tanks had, but instead on a fully enclosed chamber during operations, with the tank armor as a whole providing protection against most forms of radiation, except for those so intense that they would simply destroy the tank and kill the crew regardless of protection. It also uses an air purifier with two backup overpressure systems to keep fallout from getting inside the tank, designed with the goal of avoiding common mode failure.
To increase crew survivability against mines, while also providing sufficient improved in its mobility to allow for it to have almost as much mobility as the Sino 2A1 Main Battle Tank, the Königsbären packs the highest ground clearance of any Confederacy tank, being ten centimeters higher compared to the previous heavy tanks, giving to it the necessary minimum of mobility for strategic usefulness in the hilly terrains that make most of the Confederacy territories. Its suspension allows for such clearance to be lowered when convenient.
Armor
Although the MilNet has traditionally been more known for its expertise in electronics and avionics rather than for its expertise in armors, for a heavy tank, the concept of relying more oftenly in active protection systems and mobility and having armor as a simple back-up would not be acceptable. Likewise, due to the fact the Königsbären was developed to inherit part of the Sino 2 capabilities as a main battle tank, the concept of neglecting all but frontal armor employed by the first Cáscara was equally dismissed.
Among the most relevant change, the fact titanium has been replaced by steel among the components of the matrix composite armor arguably implicates in a reduced volume efficiency of the armor as whole, exchanged for the fact the Confederacy has a far steadier supply of steel and by the fact far more industries have the capability of manufacturing the alloy. The strategic benefits, particularly the fact steel alloys are far more abundant and easy to manufacture, and that manufacturing such composites takes less time than manufacturing the previous titanium based composites, far outweigh the reduction in the overall volume efficiency of the armor. On the other hand, a new manufacturing process developed by the Military Branch of TdC, involving new machine tools capable of weaving, molding and melting ceramics, heavy synthetic fibers and metals into a matrix composite armor, replacing a proccess that was previously reliant on manual labor, but titanium lacked the necessaryproperties to work well with the technological limitations of this new proccess, justifying the change, which makes more sense if the far more advanced reactive armor employed by the King Bear is considered.
Like in other tanks, the armor also uses a layout involving multiple, modularly built layers of steel with depleted uranium intermeshed with ceramics matrix composites, in an interesting layout that optimizes deflection by using sloped and irregular layers rather than linear layers, featured by modules with convex and concave surfaces with a thin hollow space among them, which reduces the chances of penetration from anything that managed to bypass the reactive armor, and ensures that the tank armor will be able to take several shots before breaking apart, while its modularity makes from most parts the armor completely independent, and is properly indicated by the Intelliview system, which monitors the condition of the armor through a set of rugged sensors weaved beneath the armor that emit electric signals to its computers, under a simple principle: if they stop responding, it means the armor has been penetrated at the region where such sensors were located, due to the fact they function with crude electronics, but are extremely resilient against plain concussion. Such information also is passed to the active protection systems, together with the obvious facts regarding armor thickness allowing for them to prioritize incoming threats against the most vulnerable regions of the tank.
The V Explosive Reactive Armor employed by the Königsbären works upon tried and tested principles, and also involves new approaches and the less common application of concussion rather than of only shaped charges, making of it arguably an "Intelligent Armor" system, directly connected to the electronics of the Königsbären regarding its functioning, and composed by sloped slots which store a set of different kinds interception projectiles, launched to destroy or inutilize incoming threats.
Rather than relying exclusively upon physical contact, the ERA can dynamically be controlled and activated by the electronics, giving to it a near instant reaction time as complex calculations of speed by analysing visual data from incoming threats define the exact time to launch an interception charge or concussion projectile against it, before the projectile even touches the armor, and internally stored information about hostile tanks may be used to define which combination of concussion and different types conventional shaped charges optimized for different approaches regarding penetrators, from mass over speed to speed over mass and known length:width ratios, must be deployed for optimal results. Such complex system capable of choosing between several different types of charges and interceptors and of defining how exactly the armor will react according to the nature of the threat, which also involves advanced computing solutions, is one of the reasons for the high price of the King Bear, and arguably one of the elements that differentiates it from a more economical, simpler but also effective main battle tank.
Active Protection System
The HT-135H utilizes the two new systems developed specifically for it. Both Icarus and RML-78 systems integrate FLIR, electro-optical, datalink and radar feed with a significantly higher synchronicity compared to the previous active protection systems, at the cost of a far greater demand for processing power from the tank electronics, while also directly taking feed from the several sensors placed amidst the armor to determine the most critical areas of the tank to protect after it has taken some damage during battle. Being able to assing threat profiles to different situations, the Icarus and RML-78 are able to, for example, split tasks between deflecting guided and unguided ammunitions when necessary, to double its coverage, as pattern-matching data allows for the system to, when possible, focus the Icarus against obvious guided threats like guided missiles that are vulnerable to ECM and the RML-78 into intercepting non guided threats and guided threats with a lower likelihood of being deviated by electronic countermeasures alone. The Icarus combines laser guidance disruptors with compact chaffs, flares and the unique O-05 flash interceptors, capable of temporarily blinding electro-optical missiles through white noise.
The RML-78 also offers full coverage against incoming threats from any directions, except for land mines, and is composed by two elements: the first is a set of several 6-cell interceptor launchers spread evenly among the tank, in partially recessed slots, which rely on fully concussion projectiles to deflect close by incoming threats with least possible risk of detonating them or of fragmentation, and also, with the support of its systems, allow for the simultaneous tracking and interception of dozens of multiple incoming targets, with a relatively small interval between firings ensured by its efficient recoil action, and the projectiles have up to 12 meters of range to engage a multitude of targets from artillery shells and HEAT projectiles to anti-tank grenades, RPGs and guided missiles. Combined with the interceptors lie a set of RAM-72 Miniature Rolling Airframe Missiles.
The RAM-72 is in essence, a lower range, compact rolling airframe missile intended to intercept the incoming projectiles with the greater threat profile to the Bären tank, and are particularly effective against top-attack and guided ammunitions due to their expectedly higher accuracy derived from the fact that unlike the interceptors, they are capable of homing on incoming threats in a far greater distance, making of them extremely effective against artillery and the dreaded air-to-ground missiles, bane to most tanks. One of the particularly interesting features of the RAM-72 is the fact it packs a datalink, allowing for any nearby King Bear to direct it and override its own guidance whenever ECM is used.
Like in other armored vehicles of the Confederacy, these active protection systems also utilize a datalink and can be set to work in tandem with the APSes of nearby AFVs, allowing for maximum protection for an armored formation as they share information about incoming threats to all vehicles in real time.
The fact the King Bear essentially packs three independent components as part of its active protection system, sharing information among themselves and among systems of other tanks and AFVs make of it a particularly difficult target to destroy for anti-tank infantry, and less easy to be taken down by enemy helicopters compared to traditional tanks, specially when combined with its anti-air capabilities.
Drivetrain, Engine, Suspension
Like the Obyekt 279 Heavy Tank prototype, the King Bear also uses an unusual layout with four parallel tracks, except they are coupled with an active hydropneumatic suspension, allowing for a level of maneuverability not usually seen in heavy tanks
Perhaps, the most noticeable detail about the drivetrain of the Königsbaren is the fact that it uses a set of four tracks instead of two tracks, like in most tanks. Ground pressure is evenly distributed amidst these four tracks, allowing for it sufficient mobility to perform most of the roles attributed to main battle tanks, except for those which rely on mobility and low observability, which instead would fall under the expertise of the Sino Stealth Tank series.
The combination of a four-tracked design with an active hydropneumatic suspension provides to the HT-135H a significantdegree of cross-country capability for a tank with its weight, making of it far more suitable for the terrain features in most of the Confederacy compared to its previous heavy tanks. Amidst the unique technologies, lie an active differential system which takes feed from ground clearance, steering, inclination, engine input, terrain data and other relevant variables to optimize the distribution of torque amidst its ten drive wheels, increasing its stability and steering capability. Like most tanks of the Confederacy, it has a particularly high axle ratio, sacrificing maximum speed for greater acceleration and torque, while maintaining half of its agility in reverse gear to facilitate retreating moves.
To provide its power, a particularly rugged 2100 HP gas turbine is utilized, optimized for high octane synthetic fuels, and boosted by a twin-turbocharger system combined with air-to-air and air-to-water intercoolers, which are spread through the vehicle in a pattern intended to dissipate the heat in an widely distributed form through its frame, to allow for its engine to withstand being pushed to its limits for a longer time than most tanks would. With 55 Liters of displacement, it provides a reasonable maximum operational range for the Königsbären.
Also, the King Bear is equipped with an auxiliary power unit, the UEA-315H APU, developed as an upscaled version of the UEA-315 APU used by the M135 Librecielo. The UEA-315H is composed by a cell of 60 supercapacitors built of carbon nanotubes, due to their large nano-scale surface area for storage of free electrons, which also serves as a secondary source of power for its electrothermal-chemical guns.
Electronics
The Königsbären packs the most advanced electronics ever deployed in a MilNet tank. Although most of them have been incremental upgrades over the existing technologies employed by other armored vehicles manufactured by the MilNet, the unique type of "intelligent" explosive reactive armor employed by this vehicle is powered by a particularly advanced computing system which filters the data of the several sensors spread through its armor. Using several sets of reinforced fiber optic cables instead of conventional wiring due to its geometrically greater need of real-time processing to ensure optimal efficiency of its computer-controlled protection systems against high velocity projectiles, its systems arguably can be compared to the avionics of a fighter in complexity.
Telemetry, terrain and ground clearance sensors are used by both its computerized powertrain and by its fire control system, which is able of tracking four different targets at once, allowing for the main turret, secondary turret, grenade launchers and, when fielded for the mission, Hellfires, to be fired against four different threats at the same time.
What truly stands however, is the fire control system for its miniaturized rolling airframe missiles. Capable of tracking, locking and launching missiles against a total of 24 incoming threats simultaneously, it provides an exceptional survivability to the HT-135H, while it also can direct the usage of Hellfire missiles against hostile tanks, making of the act of using the King Bear to its maximum potential feasible with a 3-man crew, for all it requires is the use of two buttons to select a target and launch the missiles, with every other process being automated. This fire control system also is able to communicate with any missile that packs a compatible datalink, serving as a first line of ECCM when used for offensive rather than defensive purposes.
Another of the features of the Konigsbaren is the unmanned vehicle control interface, similar to that employed by the M135 MacGavin Mobile Command Center. Serving as an alternative to the commander's gun, it allows for the commander of a tank to control any nearby unmanned aerial or ground vehicle through use of its ID. Such capability can be very useful, allowing for a very close integration between armored forces and UCAVs, for example.
